My name is Pam Cromwell and I am actively living with Stage IV breast cancer and I want to share a letter I wrote.

Dear Cancer,

I’m not even quite sure why I started with the word dear. I think it’s a force of habit when starting a letter. Sometimes I don’t even think you’re real. I can’t see you, but every day when I take a shower or comb my hair, I see all of the effects of you.

I wanted to be the pretty one, the smart one, the successful one. Not the one who has cancer. Not the one who has an expiration date hanging over her head. Not the one with flawed skin, whose breasts are gone. Not the one who felt alone.

Well, cancer, this is what you didn’t see coming. I found a treatment team, a community, at Cancer Treatment Centers of America. I’ve learned that it’s important to find a place that respects me for who I am and shows me that people will stick around no matter what.

So dear cancer, I don’t know what my future will be, but I know that I will always be a fighter and I won’t be alone. No matter how hard you try, you will never take that away from me.